Notre Dame football weekend benefits St. Joan

In 2013, for financial reasons, St. Joan of Arc parish in hard-times Harrowgate was merged into nearby Holy Innocents parish, with St. Joan being reduced to a "worship site."

When I visited the church at Frankford and Atlantic for the column I wrote, I knew something special was going on.

The church and rectory and grounds were immaculate, St. Joan was running a food pantry, an after-school program and English lessons.

There is one reason all this was happening and her name is Sister Linda Lukiewski, who is assigned to the "worship site," or "mission" as she prefers to call it.

Sister Linda is positive, as you might expect of a woman of faith, plus smart, magnetic and dynamic. She gets a tiny amount of financial help from the church, but is basically on her own at the mission, which is right now putting in a community garden.

In 2015, I was able to help her – by publicizing her need – get an ugly and unsafe incinerator removed from the church grounds.

The next thing I knew, Sister Linda invited me to take a seat on her newly organized St. Joan of Arc advisory board, which is a source of person power, connections, donations and ideas. She asked me to join a few short weeks after I concluded 25 years on the board of Variety, the Children's Charity, which freed up a little of my time.

Was it a coincidence to be invited just as I got the gift of time, or was it the will of a higher power? That I don't know. I do know there was a clear need, it wouldn't take too much of my time and Sister Linda is hard to refuse.

The last time St. Joan had a need and I wrote about it, a number of readers responded, as they always do, out of the goodness of their hearts.

This time I'm asking for cash – but there is something great in it for you.

One member of the advisory board made available two tickets to the Sept. 24^th  Notre Dame/Duke football game at South Bend.

The package includes bed, breakfast and dinner for three nights – Thursday, Sept. 22 to Sunday, Sept. 25 – in the spacious home of a relative of one of the board members. In addition, there's also a $1,000 gift card to defray travel expenses.

Raffle tickets are $10 each, three for $25, and St. Joan gets all the proceeds, so important to Sister Joan's mission. Make out a check to St. Joan, and mail it to Sister Linda, St. Joan of Arc, 2025 E. Atlantic St., 19134.

I bought three.